Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 03-27-2018, 09:17 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
geoffff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,061
Bouncing around northeast Baja

My van and I got a chance to play around in Baja California this month, but it was a much shorter trip than expected, because I broke one of my leaf springs (more on that later). These photos are of northeast Baja, in the Mexicali to San Felipe area.

Camping on the eastern edge of the Sierra de Juarez mountains, overlooking Laguna Salada 4600 feet below. Can you spot my van in the aerial shots? You can click on the photos for larger versions. ()








Palm tree oases with petroglyphs in the canyons along the western shore of Laguna Salada:








A ruined resort deep in the remote desert, complete with swimming pool. I read it had been built by a Mexican general in the 1990s - but was abandoned when he was thrown into jail. ()










Palomar Canyon hot spring - a soaking pool at the end of 10 miles of grueling road. At one point I had to stop for a half hour of rock rearranging because my van was too wide to pass between a couple of boulders.














The reward: ()








Unfortunately I must have hit one of the bumps in the road a bit too hard, because I discovered a front leaf spring had snapped. Using my bottle jack to pry things apart a bit, I managed to do a little field repair using ratchet straps to tightly hold the broken leaf spring ends in place, but it slowly sunk in for me that my holiday was most likely over. Because a second intact leaf was there under the broken one (with partial military wrap), I figured my van was stable for driving, but there was no way I would trust it solo driving rough roads far from civilization.

When I found cell service, I called Sportsmobile in Fresno and learned that my broken spring was a custom part that they no longer stock. They only stock the parts for their current Sportsmobile 4x4 system, which is different front and back (and rides 2" higher). I am a bit disappointed they don't stock spare parts for older models (mine's a 2004). Sportsmobile West recommended I contact Deaver Springs to fabricate a replacement leaf.










I did a bit more Baja relaxing, but didn't stray far from pavement. Here's the sand bar at Estero Percebú: ()








Dead whale:




My last camp was over on the other side of Gulf of California, heading in the direction of Puerto Peñasco - just west of "El Tornillal" near Gulfo de Santa Clara. The area is beautiful, with lovely patterned sand bars at low tide. ()







-- Geoff

__________________
2004 Ford, SMB 4x4, RB-50
https://octopup.org/sportsmobile
geoffff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2018, 09:18 PM   #2
Senior Member
 
geoffff's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 1,061
Here's my GPS track map:



-- Geoff
__________________
2004 Ford, SMB 4x4, RB-50
https://octopup.org/sportsmobile
geoffff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-27-2018, 10:01 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
rallypanam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: San Francisco/Nevada City
Posts: 3,769
Awesome. Too bad about the leaf spring.
rallypanam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 05:08 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 234
Thanks for the writeup and photos. Seems like a great trip despite the leaf spring. Nice job on the field repair.
wish41 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 08:00 AM   #5
Senior Member
 
Glen's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Orange County, CA
Posts: 360
Wow!!! Looks like a fun trip. Too bad you had to cut it short. Spring is a great time to visit Baja. We got a couple fat tire MTN bikes last year and have really enjoyed riding them around down there.
__________________
Friends Don't Let Friends Do Stupid Things Alone
Glen is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 08:24 AM   #6
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 137
Nice report !! What kind of bike is that - looks like lots of fun...

Steve W
Southern California
SteveW is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 08:26 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
pjpvi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: SF Bay Area, CA
Posts: 1,288
Thanks for sharing Geoff. Hope you get the spring figured out soon!
__________________
Phil

- 2005 EB50 6.0PSD - SMB 4x4
pjpvi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 09:05 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
marret's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: FL and VA
Posts: 1,941
Garage
Looks like a fun trip, thanks for sharing. Best of luck/success with the spring.
__________________
Chris
2008 GMC 3500 Quigley Weldtec 4x4 Savana SMB
marret is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 09:38 AM   #9
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Long Beach, CA
Posts: 108
Friggin love your Baja reports Geoff!
kccourtney is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-28-2018, 09:53 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
arctictraveller's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 4,232
Looks like a grand adventure, there's always something new to discover in Baja. I'm sure you have it fixed by now, but you were pretty close to Agile in El Cajon. If they didnt' have anything in stock, I bet their local spring builder could have fixed you up pretty quickly. Anyway, great report.............
__________________
Arctic Traveller
KC6TNI
2001 GTRV
Advanced 4wd
Agile Ride improvement package
arctictraveller is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Sportsmobile Registry

"Campy"

campy

Queen bee

Deaner
Add your Sportsmobile
» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:27 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.